Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

About four days after the so-called Perikatan Nasional took helm of the government seat in Putrajaya, they are beginning to unleash their manifestos one by one, some picking up the pieces from the past. The first was a former defence minister who is now taking up the foreign affairs portfolio in the Perikatan government pledged the six new army helicopters that he ordered many years back will be delivered by the supplier at the end of this year. Then, the PPSMI and the free breakfast in school scheme will be reviewed by the newly appointed education minister. Ties with Saudi Arabia will also be mend after the relationship between the two countries soured in the “Mahathir” previous government, follow by an attempt to resolve the palm oil spat with India and the Perikatan cabinet ministers are readying themselves to have their salaries reduced following the current economic uncertainties. Furthermore, the Perikatan prime minister had also pledged to re-introduce the GST after the begi...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 9/1/2017 The issue of an opposition shadow cabinet has suddenly surfaced again following a poser by an Umno cabinet minister on the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan’s readiness to govern the country should they win the next general election. In response to the challenge, a leader from Pakatan Harapan component Parti Amanah Negara gave an assurance that the opposition coalition’s shadow cabinet will be announced this year. So, what is so important about the opposition shadow cabinet today and why did Umno so often remind us that DAP’s own shadow spokespersons on ministerial portfolios are a sign that the party would dump its Pakatan Harapan partners in order to rule on its own should the opposition coalition win the next general election? Is it logical for DAP to rule on its own when it will only contest 50 parliamentary seats out of the total 222 seats? Even if DAP makes a clean sweep of the 50 seats, can it rule o...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 31/8/2016 It has been almost a year now since Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has spoken of his plans for parliamentary reforms. Pandikar also challenged the opposition members of parliament to resign from their constituencies if the parliamentary reforms do not take place under his stewardship. What and where are the parliamentary reforms that Pandikar has promised about a year ago. Until today, these reforms are yet to take place. Just exactly what did Pandikar mean by establishing a special chamber to discuss matters of public importance? Currently, we already have two chambers, the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat. Then, why do we need another chamber for the parliament when the current two chambers are already sufficient to discuss matters of public importance. Reforms should be focused on the existing chambers in order to enhance their effectiveness, instead of creating another one to deal with some sort of “special...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 24/8/2016  Whenever there are rallies held in Malaysia, organised to seek reforms, just and fairness over important issues affecting our people and the entire nation, the Barisan Nasional government and their leaders are so quick to claim that these rallies whether it is civil society or opposition dominated were some kind of attempt to topple a “democratically elected” government of theirs. The question here is, are rallies here in Malaysia capable of overthrowing the BN government as alleged by many BN leaders, particularly of those from Umno? What specific or concrete evidence do they have to immediately implicate that these kind of rallies were deemed violent and attempted coup similar to those which had taken place in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Tunisia or Egypt? Are these BN leaders losing confidence on their own capabilities and leadership until they have to resort to such idea that someone out th...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 3/3/2016 Since 2008 when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition first lost its two-thirds majority in the general election and again failed to regain the much needed numbers in the 2013 polls, BN leaders, particularly from its dominant party Umno, have frequently resorted to divide and rule tactics in an attempt to regain lost ground. These leaders would stir up racial and religious problems and put the blame on various opposition parties and their leaders, leading civil society and human rights groups claiming that these people are threatening the special rights of the Malays and insulting Islam. The intention of these leaders is crystal clear, to divert the people’s attention from the ugly scenes in the corridors of power: corruption, power abuse and mismanagement which have cost the nation billions of ringgit every year. Umno leaders have somehow realised that the people are now watching their every move and they have to c...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 19/2/2016 If a leading politician or senior official from the Barisan Nasional (BN) government was caught or exposed for his corrupt practices, the people would make hell of a noise demanding that the person resign, be probed and charged for the crimes committed. However, today, the leading BN politician or senior official will fire back by claiming that those calling for action to be taken against him are threatening the existence of the Malay race in this nation. He will add that without Umno, there will be no more Malays in this land. Again, when people saw a leading figure from the BN government abusing his powers to award government contracts to members of his family, close relatives or cronies, calls for the person to be probed and demanding his resignation will be met with his response that it is un-Islamic to do so or it is not the way of Islam to call for action to be taken against the leader or official. In shor...

Public & Press Statement Recently, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has decided to block two influential websites which has been critical to the BN government. The blockade took place after these two websites published a kind of “warning” letter from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to Tabung Haji over some kind of “fund mismanagement” in the said organization. The MCMC reasoned that the blockade to these two websites were because of the words and statements published are against the law and order. We would like to ask the BN government, is reporting or exposing a crime against the law? Why are the authorities apprehending the person who reported or exposed criminal elements within an organization or the government and not going after the culprits who abused their powers and took the public funds for their personal interests? Is the BN government giving an impression to the public that any persons reporting a misdeed, corruption or any criminal element w...

This article has earlier appeared in the Beritadaily.com on 21/1/2016 First of all, why must members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) be gagged and not allowed to issue any statements pertaining to the committee's ongoing investigations or hearings on the government’s financial irregularities? Is PAC functioning in secrecy or is it some sort of a secret society? Why all inquiries carried out by the PAC should not be made public and the people are being prevented from knowing its proceedings? If the leaders of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition keep on insisting that PAC’s probes into the financial irregularities in the public service as well as government-linked-companies (GLCs) should not be disclosed to the people, then can only assume that they want to cover-up the misdeeds and wrongdoings within the government. No wonder the BN government’s budget deficit is increasing every year and they keep on losing billions of ringgit of public funds to power abuse, mismanag...